It was at my city's biggest wedding show. I thought of the lie as I walked from booth to booth, handing out business cards. Most weren't giving me the time of day but the moment I said the magic words "I'm engaged," I transformed into a dollar sign with freshly shaved legs.

"When's the special day?" they asked.

In the spring because spring is the best.

"How did he propose?"

At a lodge. Over the holidays. In a turtleneck.

"When are you getting married?"

As soon as possible because my life will not begin until I am wed.

I swallowed the assumptions — that I was marrying a man, that I wanted what they were selling, that I was getting married at all. In doing so, in pretending to be a woman planning a wedding, I realized a truth about those who actually are: Brides are really freakin' alone out there.

When you get engaged, you go from being a woman in the world, living her life, to one of the market's most desired customers (weddings are a $72 billion a year industry).